Cucumber Salad
This summery salad recipe, courtesy of the Indian restaurant Milan, has one possibly hard-to-find ingredient: the Indian spice powder Chat Masala. If you can’t find it to buy, directions are available online for mixing your own.
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1 cucumber, peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces
1/2 small onion, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 large tomato, cut into very small pieces
4 branches cilantro, cut into small pieces
salt and pepper to taste
small amount of vinegar
2 tsp. Chat Masala
fresh juice from 1 lime
Mix ingredients together. Serves two.
In a pickle, happily
ALONSO:
And Trinculo is reeling ripe: where
should they
Find this grand liquor that hath
gilded ’em?
How camest thou in this pickle?
TRINCULO:
I have been in such a pickle since I
saw you last that, I fear me, will never
out of
my bones: I shall not fear fly-blowing.
This exchange from Shakespeare’s The Tempest is the first written record of someone “being in a pickle.” Pickled or no, cucumbers are an unmistakeable herald of summer.
Cucumbers mature in the garden in high heat, just in time for scorching patio meals. Their sprawling tendrils are just as prolific as other garden- gobbling cucurbits such as squash, zucchini and melon, but cucumbers can be vined vertically to create shade and space. When small, spiky and firm, cucumbers are well suited to pickling whole (think gherkins and cornichons). As they mature, the seeds become larger, firmer and more bitter and can be removed by scraping a teaspoon along the inside of the cuke.
A locally grown cucumber will not be coated in food-grade wax, so try striping the skin using a peeler and enjoy the striking color combination. Dill, cilantro, mint, cumin, red onion, tomato, yogurt, sour cream, lemon, smoked salmon, and rice wine vinegar all show an affinity for the cool ruler; cucumbers can even be cooked, although doing so in the summer seems hot headed.—Lisa Reeder
Look sharp
Carrot matchsticks, waffle-cut sweet potatoes, wafer-thin disks of cucumber—you’ve seen them in restaurants and marveled at the precision, but how in the world is it accomplished? With a mandoline.
 This mandoline, available at The Seasonal Cook, represents the simple end of the spectrum; you can buy a much more elaborate mandoline if you like. |
A mandoline is a hand-powered slicing machine, similar in function to a grater but with sharper, interchangeable blades and meant for high volume production. For home use, try any of the OXO brand mandolines—they mimic the “professional” French mandoline, but have been made steadier on their feet and simpler to set up, clean, and put away.
Mandolines usually include several interchangeable blades; as soon as you buy the thing, find a little box or tin in which to stash the extra pieces so that they don’t disappear (taking with them your dream of waffle fries).—L.R.